Juniata Choir Spring Concert Features Brazilian Music

(Posted March 28, 2005)

The Juniata College Concert Choir will perform an eclectic program of music from Brazil for the ensemble's homecoming concert from its spring tour to Brazil at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 2 at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Huntingdon, Pa.

The concert is free and open to the public. The church is at 6th and Washington streets. No tickets are required. The ensemble is conducted by Russell Shelley, Elma Stine Heckler Associate Professor of Music.

The choir, which performed nine concerts throughout Brazil over spring break, will perform a program of choral arrangements that includes Brazilian songs, American folk songs and African-American spirituals.

In the first half of the program, the choir will perform "The Water is Wide," "Simple Gifts," "Red, Red Rose," "Of Love" and "Shenandoah."

Highlights from the second half of the program feature the Brazilian songs "Hino de Louvor," "Boi Bumba," "Ave Maria do Morra," "Nosse Gente," "Quixabeira" and "Frevo." The program will end with some African-American spirituals, including "Motherless Child," "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger," "Wade in the Water" and "My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord."

The choir recently returned from its spring tour to Brazil, where the ensemble sang a sold-out concert at the Castro Alves Theater in Salvador, which is the "Carnegie Hall of Brazil" according to choir director Shelley.

The concert choir is comprised of 55 students from Juniata College. Choir members must go through an audition process to join the group. Recordings by the Juniata choir are available after the performance.

Each spring, the choir tours within the United States or in other countries. In past years, the choir has performed at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Salzburg Cathedral in Austria; Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, Germany; the Cathedral de Notre Dame Chartres in France; and Trinidad.